Why I created this tournament.
4 years ago, I decided to move my family away from the street-violence, anger and hatred in Hong Kong. We were so lucky to have also escaped the COVID mess there, and have enjoyed living in beautiful Fukuoka City (airport code: FUK).
The first thing I did after settling down was to look for a water polo club to play with. However, to my disappointment, no grown-ups play water polo in FUK. There was no water polo clubs. So I thought to create one. Knowing that pools here, like everywhere else are hard to book, I bought a set of inflatable goals, thinking to start a club at the beach right off my office. (Yes, I rented a small room on the beach so that I could work while waiting for the wind to pick up to windsurf).
After some promotion on the internet, I could only find one American guy who is keen to play. I need a way to make more people want to play water polo.
Next step: there is a nice shopping mall that is right alongside a marina — Marinoa City. I thought it would be an excellent location to host an international water polo tournament, to arouse interest in Beach Water Polo in Japan (playing in the sea instead of a pool, not necessarily connected to a beach).
After almost 3 years of talking about it and not knowing how to start, I finally got the introduction and became friendly with the owner of the Marina operator. They were immediately welcoming the idea, and connected us to the shopping mall people. From another source, I also connected to the tourism department of the city government, who was thrill to help make this an annual event — another fun thing to showcase this young and active city.
And with the help of a few passionate local friends, who have zero water polo experience, after tons of paperwork, we are now really going ahead with the tournament!
We have 12 teams registered. New and old water polo friends from USA, Singapore, Philippines, Korea, China and Japan will connect and reconnect through matches and an after party.
Come have a look on July 15/16 at Marinoa City — right under the Ferris wheel.
Nationality of registered players 選手国際：
Japan, Germany, USA, Croatia, China, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, China Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Australia, France
Tournament Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/beachwaterpolofukuoka
Tournament Schedule/Results:
https://our.pikapage.com/page?id=63d8e528dc714c2d46b045c3#/
